The Strangers serves up a ton of legitimate scary moments. It reminds us what the term “terrifying” really means. The Strangers opens in theaters, May 30th.

The definition of horror can be a difficult thing to grasp, and in what sense the term applies strictly to the horrific — the gruesome, the strange – the last 10 years of horror films have been sufficiently entertaining. More and more, however, there’s been a growing divide between the horrific and the terrifying, between that which is gory or disturbing and that which is legitimately scary. If the last decade has witnessed the rise and fall of American remakes; teen-friendly, PG-13 slasher flicks; and the hardcore Hostel/Saw torture motif; one wonders if — in some small way — The Strangers isn’t a response to that.

For as effective as they are at offering up a healthy portion of gore or a comprehensive collection of long-haired, Japanese dead girls, those films are largely aesthetic experiences. And in the watered-down, semi-adopted sense of the word, most audiences might confuse them for “scary.” But as a fan of those movies, it’s a shocking experience when a small, tensely-crafted film such as The Strangers comes along – almost uninvited – and reminds you what the term “terrifying” truly means.

The set-up is as simple as they come. Two lovers (Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler), in the aftermath of a downturn in their relationship, are forced to spend the evening in a secluded, country home after returning from a nearby wedding. Enter the strangers – three masked psychotics who taunt and stalk the couple through the terrifying pre-dawn hours. Ironically, for a film called The Strangers the premise is incredibly familiar, but it’s in the execution where the film succeeds.

Liv Tyler and director Bryan Bertino give an indepth interview about the upcoming horror/thriller, The Strangers. The Stangers opens in theaters this Friday, May 30th.

Writer-director Bryan Bertino is living the film-geek dream at the moment, with his first movie, the creepy horror-thriller The Strangers, hitting this coming weekend. The picture stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a young couple who, during a stay at a vacation house in the woods, become the targets of a trio of relentless and murderous madmen.

The situation very quickly spirals out of control for Tyler and Speedman’s characters as they seek to beat the odds and escape from these Strangers. But the fact that The Strangers got made at all is a triumph in and of itself over the odds. For not only is the movie Bertino’s first feature film as a director, but it’s also his first sold script.

“It’s a lot of firsts!” the helmer recently joked while talking with IGN. A former photography student who moved from Texas to Los Angeles, Bertino soon began writing scripts after his arrival in Hollywood. The third one he penned would turn out to become The Strangers. “I entered it into the Nicholls Fellowship. It’s a competition where like 7,000 people or something enter, and I finished in the top 300. So you got on a list that went out to agents and managers, and a manager called me and a week later I sold it. So all of a sudden I quit my job and everything took off from there.”

The Hobbit begins filming in 2010. The two films are being made back to back.

The live chat “An Unexpected Party” was held today at Weta’s website between fans and Guillermo del Toro, director of The Hobbit and its untitled sequel, and executive producer Peter Jackson. Del Toro and Jackson fielded fans’ inquiries about the two projects, revealing a good deal about their plans for them.

“At this point in time the plan is to write [the screenplays] for the rest of this year and start early conceptual designs. 2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back,” Jackson told fans. “Post production follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released December 2011, and (Film Two) release Dec 2012. That is the schedule in about as much detail as we have ourselves at the moment.” Del Toro said the ratings for the two Hobbit movies would be the same as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, “an intense PG-13.”

Casting buzz claims that LOTR veterans Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), and Andy Serkis (Gollum) have all been approached to reprise their respective roles for the films. Del Toro clarified the matter by saying, “No casting has started yet … but some people have thrown their helmet into the ring.”

SynopsisIn the Disney comedy, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” a pampered Beverly Hills Chihuahua named Chloe (voice of Drew Barrymore) finds herself accidentally lost in the mean streets of Mexico without a day spa or Rodeo Drive boutique anywhere in sight. Now alone for the first time in her spoiled life, she must rely on some unexpected new friends including a street-hardened German Shepherd named Delgado (voice of Andy Garcia) and an amorous pup named Papi (voice of George Lopez)-to lend her a paw and help her to find her inner strength on their incredible journey back home. Garcia is playing a German shepherd who was kicked off the police force because he lost his sense of smell and has now given up on life. Hayek is Chloe’s spirit guide who helps her find her true heritage.

Lopez is Papi, a macho romantic Chihuahua who will do anything for the love of Chloe.

Synopsis“Igor,” is a playfully irreverent comedy which brings a new twist to the classic monster genre. It tells the story of a mad scientist’s hunchbacked lab assistant who has big dreams of becoming a scientist in his own right and winning the coveted first place award at the annual Evil Science Fair.

SynopsisChoke” is a black comedy that follows Victor Mancini (Rockwell), a sex addict who works as a Colonial War re-enactor and runs a con scheme that involves deliberately choking in restaurants and attaching himself parasitically to his rescuers, all to fund his mother’s (Huston) care at a private mental hospital.

He is forced to address his intimacy issues when he falls in love with his mother’s doctor and discovers that he is unable to perform with the one woman he actually likes.